Maryland?s economy continues to show signs of strength as evidenced by the growing value of homes in the state.
Property owners will receive state assessment notices in the coming days showing an 18.7 percent increase is assessed value.
The State Department of Assessments and Taxation said the largest increase in property value was seen in homes valued at less than $250,000.
“Everything that I?ve been looking at seems to be pointing to Maryland having a rosy outlook for the next couple of years because of job growth,” said Jody Landers, executive vice president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors. “Transportation is always an issue for us,but the outlook for Baltimore and Maryland is very good.”
Landers said recent statistics gathered by the National Association of Realtors in Washington, and prepared for the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors, show that 40 percent of the homebuyers in Baltimore City are single females and 16 percent are single men.
“The fact that we have so many singles coming into the marketplace tells me we will see a steady demand for housing,” Landers said.
In Baltimore County, 22 percent of homebuyers are single females and 11 percent are single males. Nationally, 22 percent of homebuyers are single females and 9 percent are single males, according to the NAR data.
In its statement on assessments, DAT director C. John Sullivan Jr. said while property values have increase during the past three years, the percentage of increase for residential properties was greater than for commercial properties everywhere in the state except Somerset and Worcester counties.
The median price of a home sold in November in the Baltimore region ? Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, Baltimore City, and Carroll, Harford and Howard counties ? was $270,000, up 2.44 percent from the median price of a home sold during November 2005.
